Last summer, I pulled into the yachting center at Newport, RI to top of my diesel before heading home. I told the dockhand, I was a little embarrassed becasue it would only take a few gallons. He said not to worry, they were not busy that day and went on to tell me of a 150 foot motor yacht that filled up there the prior week, taking 15,000 gallons of diesel. He said the bill came to just under $40,000. what kind of a tip do you think they left? And yeah, I'm cheap!

Somewhere on the Balearic Islands I was really happy cause I found immediately a spot on the Diesel pontoon, just in front of a big motor boat...and then I waited more than an hour. That's the time it took to put some diesel on that thing. When I commented with the guy om the pump he smiled and said I was lucky because the big motor boat did just had put some diesel, not full tanks

You're lucky; my system was wrecked by the Sailnet virus. I had a tech working on my system for several hours, and in the end, he couldn't remove all of the virus and had to reinstall the operating system.

I have an 8hp outboard with a three gallon tank for my Oday 23. I usually just take a carry-all to the gas station to avoid paying the fuel dock premiums, but once in a great while, I have to go to a fuel dock. The last time, I pulled up, took my three gallon tank out and put it on the dock, and filled up. The bill came to less than $10. I started to pull out my cash, and the dock hand just laughed. He was quite amused at the thought of someone paying cash at the fuel dock. He went to get me changel, but came back a few minutes later saying that he didn't have any cash and to just forget about it.

I have stayed at a marina twice, and both times I tipped, but only out of habit. The dockhands (town teens) really didn't know what they were doing; perfectly polite and nice, but they really had no clue how to do more than affix a line to a cleat. No attempt to provide excellent service. And as for tipping at a fuel dock: as I related above, my experience is minimal, but what I have seen at both fuel docks that I pass regularly: the attendant may or may not help with lines, but never, ever do they pump the fuel. The attendant hands the fuel pump nozzle to the boater, then gets out of way. I can see offering a tip if he assists you in docking, but for handing you a hose and taking your money?..... Do fuel dock attendants actually pump the fuel in other locations?

It's not likely you will need asistance at a gas station or the department store. If you don't need assistance docking there is no reason to tip anyone. If you do need someone to toss lines to, showing some form of appreciation goes a long way if you plan on visiting that marina again.
When we come into our slip I don't need any assistance but if one of my neighbors wants to hand us a line I just say thanks. If I'm going into a fuel dock somewhere some help is nice. The kids working on the dock you want to come into w/o damaging anyone else work long days for low wages.
A long time ago I worked a couple of summers during college as a dock boy in the early 70's. Sometimes I received a dollar, sometimes a cold soda or better yet a cold beer.
We all were poor students working a summer job and what we made was our spending money for the next year at school. I can guarantee you we remembered who tipped and who didn't.
Jim

Somewhere on the Balearic Islands I was really happy cause I found immediately a spot on the Diesel pontoon, just in front of a big motor boat...and then I waited more than an hour. That's the time it took to put some diesel on that thing. When I commented with the guy om the pump he smiled and said I was lucky because the big motor boat did just had put some diesel, not full tanks

Regards

Paulo

I just went on a delivery on just an 80' powerboat and we took on 2000 gallons and it took forever,it seemed, to fill.(Older Hatteras)Next inline was a 30' sailboat that took on 18 gallons.The dock guys do get commission so I am sure they would rather deal with the 2-4 thousand gallon fill ups rather than the 30' 18 gallon fill up with a water fill up.BUT,when I am delivering sailboats I still tip,not as much as a 100' powerboat ,but I give the guys something at least.
I find the larger the sailboat the nicer the treatment though unfortunately.

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